A World Not So Small
by Imperial Mint
Summary: Written for opscifiandfantasy. In which Marco is an alien doctor and Ace is his patient. Briefly. Because there are rules about these kinds of things after all. MarcoAce.


**Pairing:** Ace/Marco  
 **Notes:** Thank you to lunarshores for betaing! Enjoy! This is my first fic written for opscificandfantasy - thank you to lunarshores as well for being an amazing host!

.

It was too early for this, Marco thought, as he surveyed the mass of patients already lining up in the waiting room. From the other side of the office, Rouge poked her head out of her consultation room, shooting Marco a wry smile before she called out a patient's name. A humanoid figure stood, body wobbling like green jelly as it glided to Rouge's room, and he didn't envy her. Sarkos was a regular returning patient, more of a hypochondriac than anything.

"Chop chop!" a nurse said as he passed Marco, and Marco rolled his eyes as Thatch whizzed by, offloading a pile of charts on him. "Shanks is out in the community today, so it's just the wonderful Rouge and yourself manning the clinic."

Thatch smiled, but Marco could see how tired he was. Humans grew tired much more easily than most other species Marco had knowledge of, but Thatch always excelled and put his all into everything. In fact, most humans did, and Marco loved them for it.

He sighed, looking down at his charts and retreating back into his consultation room to organise himself before getting anyone seen to. Marco rolled his shoulders and caught a brief glimpse of himself in the mirror (his skin looked less vibrant today, a duller grey-blue than the usual vibrant blue, and he really couldn't wait for his upcoming break) before calling out to the first patient.

Not many Aviphens became doctors, especially not intergalactic ones, and so Marco was always prepared for the slight look of shock that a few of his patients displayed. His species weren't known much for venturing off of their planet either – or, in fact, for allowing anyone to enter without a ridiculous heap of paperwork – so Marco was, technically, quite a rare species. He couldn't stand to stay back on his home planet, though, and as soon as he'd torn through his medical studies and found a vacancy off-planet, Marco had flown away (quite literally – Aviphens were one of only a handful of species that could fly through space without harm).

Aviphens were rumoured to be descendants of some old god, but Marco thought that was a bit rubbish. They were a product, like almost everything, of luck and quirky genetics. Why they were able to survive space itself, Marco had no real idea, but his unmistakable bright blue and yellow colouring – as well as his ability to transform into what humans would call a bird and everyone else would call a star catcher – always caught eyes and drew whispers. Marco had grown used to it, hunkering down into his studies and treating as many patients as he could.

Lunch soon rolled around, and Marco was flicking through one of the journals he'd received recently, eagerly looking for the paper Chopper had told him about. It had been a collaborative effort with Chopper and a few others, and Marco was interested to see the results of the study. His clinic had been involved with the data collection, and while Marco knew the results, seeing them actually printed was another thing.

"Rouge wants a word!" Thatch called as he passed the staff room, and Marco shut the journal, grabbing his lunch bag (and oh, how he hated the standard issue work food, but it had all the nutrients he needed, and so many alien species could react adversely to various foods that the bags of fluid were far easier to consume than bother with any other fuss) and heading to see what Rouge wanted.

They'd worked together for around five years now, and while some were a little hesitant to work with humans – who could blame them, they'd seen what humans were capable of and the first attempts at contact humans had made hadn't exactly been friendly – Marco had welcomed Rouge with open arms. They got on well, Marco could trust her, and she had never cared that Marco could fly through space.

"Ships can fly through space too," she had commented with a forced politeness, boredom hidden behind the words. "Now, will you show me the filing system, or do I have to employ some more people myself just to decode it?"

Marco padded over to Rouge's room. The door was open, and she looked at him brightly when he knocked.

"Marco," she said warmly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I have a favour to ask," Rouge continued, and Marco nodded. She was never one to beat around the bush.

"My son's been transferred," she explained, and Marco nodded. He remembered something about Rouge's son, how he was in the exploration corps or something, part of a team who explored planets and helped research the existing ones. There were a few nasty planets around too, and it was their job to chart the land and see if it could be used for anything.

"He'll be working in our area indefinitely and has been assigned to this clinic," Rouge continued, and Marco nodded, anticipating the problem already. "He was assigned to me and, well." She threw Marco a roll of her eyes, and Marco smiled.

"I can take him onto my regulars," he promised. One more wouldn't hurt, and it stopped Rouge's son having to change clinics altogether. That was a lengthy process, and while relatives were banned from being doctors to members of their family, they had another option in Marco.

"Thank you," Rouge said warmly, and a line of tension left her shoulders. "He's been away from home for far too long, and I was worried that he'd take off to some far corner of the galaxy rather than go through the clinic transferral."

Marco remembered Rouge had always said her son had an urge to run off and explore, and it clearly had never faded away. Not that he could blame her son. The galaxy was such a big place, with so much to do and see. Even Marco was tempted every now and then, and he had a license that allowed him to fly whenever he wanted to, though he always drew a crowd of ships whenever he did fly, all astounded they got to see a real Aviphen.

"I'll send over the paperwork then," Rouge said, and Marco nodded, cutting his lunch short to get back to his office and process the transferral.

Ace looked a lot like his mother, Marco thought as the files came up on his computer. He smiled, logging Ace into his system, and sent a reminder that Ace needed to bring his (completed) general health questionnaire with him to his appointment in two days' time. It was a routine appointment so it should be easy, and Marco liked it when he didn't have to keep patients in for tests or extended stays.

Marco learnt very quickly that Ace wasn't the easiest of patients. He walked into Marco's room with a broad grin, and that would have been perfectly okay, if not for the fact he was orange. And not in a natural alien skin orange kind of way, but the contagious scratch disease orange way that was harmless to all other lifeforms except for humans.

"Quarantine, now!" Marco shouted down the hall, knowing Thatch would hear him. The pounding of footsteps down the corridor reassured Marco that he had heard, and he pressed the quarantine bubble on his office, looking at Ace.

"Quarantine?" he squeaked (and yes, squeaked), and Marco realised that Ace really had had no idea what he was infected with, so that was something at least. Marco sighed, looking out of his door as Rouge waved at him from the other side of the office, a look on her face as if she'd known Ace would be bringing trouble with him.

"Bit of a troublemaker, are you?" Marco said instead, and Ace shifted, cheeks flushing a deep red under his orange skin.

"People at the office said it was nothing to worry about so I didn't see the point in coming in earlier," Ace said simply, shifting a little uncomfortably where he stood.

"Are you the only human in your office?" Marco asked, resisting the urge to sigh. And really, GALAX should ensure they kept their staff up to date with infectious diseases. It would save Marco a lot of time.

"I think so," Ace said, eyes narrowed. The penny seemed to drop a moment later, and his jaw opened wide. "Shit, this is Scratch isn't it?" he said, and Marco could hear the panic welling in him.

"Yes," he said, and looked at Ace, making sure to meet his eyes and keep him focused. "But it's not progressed to the deadly stage. At the moment you're just mildly infectious – thankfully I can't see any welts or can smell pine that would indicate that it's advanced."

Ace took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

"So I'm not going to die?" he said, and Marco shook his head, smiling.

"I don't let any of my patients die," Marco said solemnly, and it really was the truth. He'd never had a patient in his care die, though there had been a few close calls where he'd been forced to use some of the lesser known (and more sought after) Aviphen powers, manipulating the string of lifelines, taking from his own extended life to help those who needed it.

"That's good then," Ace muttered, turning to look around the room. "I'm not going to have to stay in here for ages am I?"

Thatch appeared at the door, signalling that the quarantine was ready, and Marco took the patient bubble he passed through the door membrane.

"I'll get someone else to attend him," Thatch said, which was pretty reasonable considering Thatch was a human. There was no point risking more people when another nurse was immune.

"Right then," Marco said, turning to Ace and stretching the bubble until it was big enough to encase him, trapping the Scratch inside "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to your room for the next few days. You'll be given an injection to combat the infection, and it should be effective immediately."

Ace brightened, quite literally as he glowed, at that.

"I'll be free in a few days?" he said excitedly, and Marco didn't have to force a smile as they walked down the corridor.

"That's the plan," Marco said, and opened the door to one of the quarantine rooms. It entered into a washdown area, but there was no need for Ace to clean himself. Marco would let the jets clean him when he reentered the main surgery though.

They entered the main room and Ace looked around happily, seemingly pleased with his temporary home. Marco released the quarantine bubble and he nodded pleasantly, shooting Marco a curious glance.

"A nurse will be around soon with lunch," Marco said, glancing at the clock. Ace wandered over to the bed, sitting down comfortably. "I have to return to the surgery," Marco explained, and there was a look of disappointment so clear on Ace's face.

"I'll pop by when I have time," Marco found himself saying, though he knew he'd have to stay late if he wanted to actually follow through with that. And, strangely, Marco thought that he didn't mind that.

Rouge was overseeing the sterilisation of his office when Marco went back, and she smiled at him.

"I should have warned you," she said, nodding as the beeping inside the room ceased, a sign the cleaning was done. "He's a bit of a handful at times, always has been."

Marco hummed to himself, heading to his computer to finish logging Ace's details.

"I think you'll get on well with him," Rouge said, and that made Marco look up sharply, eyebrows rising.

"Get on well?" he parroted, and Rouge actually winked, waving a hand as she returned to her side of the surgery.

Was she trying to set them up? If so, Marco thought, that was a little… skeevy. It wasn't as if Ace wasn't a nice person or attractive (well, Marco was sure he'd be attractive under the orange glare and illness), but to have someone's mother matchmaking?

His computer pinged, and Marco looked at the message Rouge had sent him.

"I'm not being a creepy mother," the holographic Rouge said, and Marco shook his head with a smile, finishing up Ace's details in the system. "But since he met you at the conference last month, he's been dying to actually talk to you."

Marco resisted the urge to grin. He remembered that conference, and the brief pleasantries he'd exchanged with Ace, who had been attending a friend's talk, had been nice. He'd assumed Ace's eagerness and, well, flirting, had been to do with the fact he was talking to an Aviphen, but now Marco wondered if it were something else.

"Right," Marco sent his reply, "is this a warning that I'm to attend Sunday lunches from now on?"

He could hear Rouge's laughter from across the surgery and, with a roll of his eyes, submitted Ace's information and brought up files for the next patient.

It was closing hours for general patients, and Marco stretched, feeling his healing powers kick in to ease the tension in his neck. He'd worked right through lunch and was ready to head home and sleep. He'd made a promise, though, and when he remembered that it was time to see Ace, the hunger vanished to be replaced with excitement.

"Marco!" Ace called when the door opened, and he already looked a lot better. There was still a tinge to his skin, but he looked almost completely human again.

"You look better," Marco said, sitting in the visitor chair. Ace set his phone down, shutting off whatever he'd been reading, and turned to look at him.

"The injections hurt a bit, but I'm pretty tough," Ace flashed him a wide grin and flexed an arm. His muscles tightened, and Marco found himself staring at them for a little longer than appropriate.

"That's good," he managed eventually, looking at Ace to find him watching with amusement.

"I was wondering if you could do me a favour," Ace said then, and his voice dropped into something serious. Marco nodded slowly, wondering if perhaps his staring had crossed the line, and almost jumped when Ace reached a hand out to place gently on his arm.

"Unless I'm being an idiot," Ace began, "I get the feeling that you like me in the way I like you." He waited for a beat, and Marco nodded stiffly. "Could you transfer me to another clinic? I know my mother can't treat me, but you're the only other person here and, quite frankly, I'd rather go through the pain of transferring and give whatever we might have a chance than not."

He looked away, hand dropping from Marco's arm.

"Of course," Ace hurried on to say, flushing, and this time it was a more human colour that graced his cheeks, "if I'm wrong then just ignore me I-"

"I can accelerate the transferral," Marco said quickly, excitement bubbling in his stomach. "We're not the main GALAX treatment clinic, and with your mother being here, I can probably pull a few favours and get you transferred before you leave."

Ace was caught between a smile and shock, and he laughed, hands resting over his belly.

"Really?" he asked when he'd caught his breath. "You really want to do that?"

Marco nodded eagerly, and Ace took the hand he draped on the bed, both of them grinning like little children.

"When the paperwork's done, I'm going to take you to the best restaurant I know," Marco promised, and Ace looked at him, his smile dropping to something softer, something gentler, something that hinted how vastly humans could feel.

Whatever would happen, Marco wouldn't miss it for the world.

.

Ace was, well, different to what Marco had been expecting. He wondered if it was a human thing, but then again Rouge had never been this late to anything. Timekeeping was an art to most aliens, and it seemed humans hadn't quite bridged that gap just yet.

"I am so sorry," Ace said when he came running (literally) into the restaurant, hair slicked back and uniform dishevelled. He still had space debris covering his face and his helmet tucked under his arm. "There was a crash at the training facility, some idiot swerved into me, and I had to make a statement against him."

Marco blinked. "Did you come straight here?"

Nodding, Ace took his seat, glancing around as he realised people were watching him with interest.

"I didn't want to be even later," he commented quietly, and Marco felt his unease ebb into humour. His laugh echoed around the restaurant, and soon Ace was joining in, their knees knocking under the table.

"You're ridiculous," Marco said fondly, and oh, if his ancestors could see him now. They've always regarded humans as a primitive species (though to be fair they regarded most other alien species as sub-par to them), and Marco wished so many times to show them just how amazing humans are.

"It's our first official date," Ace said with a smile, tapping in his order to the electronic tablet on their table. Marco had already selected his own, and with a quick glance, he sent the order to the kitchen. "I didn't want to fuck it up."

There was a downturn to Ace's lips, and Marco took his hand gently across the table.

"You haven't fucked anything up," he said softly, and the bright look Ace shot him passed through him like an electric shock. Marco had learnt early on, when Ace had still been in quarantine and he'd been as standoffish as he could on account to not mess the doctor fraternisation rules up, that Ace made him feel things no other human had before, and he never wanted it to end.

This was something Marco was going to fight for, no matter how bad Ace's timekeeping or how difficult his job was. If he'd transfer to the other side of the universe, Marco would find a way to make their relationship work, even if it meant slugging through endless hours of paperwork and strenuous interviews to get a travelling medic license.

"Good," Ace said as their food came over, a stick-thin, fluorescent coloured alien depositing trays down with a wide smile.

They ate and traded stories about their day. Marco told Ace about the hoard of children that had been gracing the clinic with an imaginary disease that was spreading through all the schools.

"Someone started a rumour," Marco said, rolling his eyes. "Now every parent thinks their child has this disease, and there's only so many times you can say it's just kids playing tricks."

Ace snorted into his food.

"That reminds me of how I was as a kid. I'd always try and skive off of school with my brothers." He shrugged. "You would have hated me as a kid, I would have driven you mad. I think my mum once said I was a walking infectious zone."

Marco warmed at the thought of a younger Ace.

"I have no doubt you ran Rouge ragged," he said, and they slipped into talking about Ace's day, and the reason he'd been late.

The evening wore on and, when their meal had been paid for and the staff were gently trying to chivvy them along, Marco offered to walk Ace back to his home.

"I er," Ace said as they exited out of the restaurant, "I'm staying with Sabo at the moment."

Marco raised an eyebrow, unable to hide the smile on his face, and he sighed, wrapping an arm around Ace's shoulders to show he wasn't really annoyed.

"I suppose you'll have to walk me back to mine then," he commented lightly, and he felt Ace look at him. An arm slipped around his waist, and Marco leant against Ace, directing them towards his house.

The three moons of this planet glowed gently, and there was little need for the lamps that flowed along public paths. They added to the atmosphere, though, and Marco let Ace stop them as they reached Marco's gate, pulling him around to face him.

"I want to take this slowly," Ace said firmly, and Marco nodded. There were so many complications to think of with inter-species relationships that they needed to sit down and talk before their relationship could take a more physical turn. For example, Marco's species had a tendency to bond with those they shared intercourse with, and while it was a benign link really that just focused on healing more than anything, that was the sort of thing one talked about first before discussing after it happened.

"Me too," Marco agreed, and that didn't stop him from pressing his lips against Ace's gently, kissing him softly and pulling back again with excitement curling in his chest.

This was going to be something, he thought, something amazing.

.

Marco stood in the clinic, alone, thoughts swirling through his head. He sighed, glanced down at the papers in his hand, and half-turned as a light clicked off from Rouge's room.

"I've just got off the phone," she said as means of explanation, and Marco sighed, sinking into one of the uncomfortable waiting chairs. "He told me."

Marco nodded stiffly, letting the papers slap onto the floor and his head fall into his hands. It wasn't the worst news in the world, but what had happened, what Ace had told him in a quiet voice, had shattered Marco's world. And now the papers-

"I really wanted him to stay here," Rouge said, taking a seat beside Marco and scooping up the papers. She didn't read them yet – Marco would know when she did – and she took his hand gently. "I know you did too."

It had been seven months since Ace had walked into his clinic, and they'd been officially together for around six. Marco had known for a long while that if there was anyone he could share his life with, it was Ace. Except Ace was now being transferred, to the other side of the galaxy, and not even Marco using his Aviphen powers to cross the distance was a viable option.

"Read the papers," Marco said softly, and Rouge looked down, her hands tightening on the sheets of paper. She gasped, turned to Marco, and then broke into an excited laugh, Marco looking at her with wide eyes.

"I didn't imagine it then?" he said, and she shook her head, tears welling in her eyes as she grabbed Marco, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Marco," she said, taking a deep breath and pulling back. "I'll close up. Go home and tell him, go!"

That was all it took for Marco to leave, taking the papers from Rouge and running out of the door. He ran the entire way home, heart beating wildly in his chest, and burst through the door with what was probably a manic look on his face, if the way Ace came running into the hallway was any indication.

"What the hell?" Ace said, worry creasing his brow. "Marco, what's wrong?" Ace said, rushing to Marco and looking him up and down, as if Marco was hurt despite knowing that Marco was practically immortal.

"I didn't tell you," Marco said quietly, smile breaking through the calm he was trying to keep. He was too excited, too happy, and he passed the papers to Ace. There was a moment of silence, before Ace looked up, eyes wide.

"It's a travelling medical permit," Marco said softly, brushing Ace's hair behind his ear. "It'll let me work wherever we go," he continued, and Ace dropped the paper, wrapping his arms around Marco and squeezing tightly.

"Whether you need to travel around for a while or settle somewhere else, I can come with you." Ace pulled away slowly, thumbs brushing against Marco's cheeks.

"Good," Ace said softly, kissing Marco gently and resting his forehead against Marco's. "Because there's an entire galaxy out there, and I don't want to see it with anyone but you."

Marco pulled him in closely again, the blue in his skin glowing with happiness. There was nothing else he wanted more in this world, and now they had an entire universe to go and explore. With Ace, the possibilities were endless.

 **.**

 **Feedback is always appreciated thank you for reading!**


End file.
